Judicial Recommendations Potentially Disqualify Shafiq, Parliamentary Election Law

Photo Credit: Arabic Edition

The commissioners of Egypt’s Supreme Constitutional Court (SCC) recommended that the court invalidate the Presidential Electoral Commissions’ referral of the Political Isolation Law. If the SCC accepts the recommendation, current presidential candidate and former Prime Minister during the Mubarak regime Ahmed Shafiq, could be disqualified. The commissioners also provided a recommendation regarding the country’s parliamentary elections law which they stated are unconstitutional and should be overturned. The commissioners’ recommendations are non-binding but, if accepted by the SCC, could potentially undue the presidential and parliamentary elections.

The question of the constituent assembly was apparently resolved as political parties announced they had reached an agreement determining the composition of body. The meeting’s delegates agreed to allocate 37 of the Constituent Assembly seats to political parties, 20 to youth and public figures, nine to legal experts, six to judicial bodies, five to Al-Azhar, four to the church, one seat each for the ministries of interior and justice, and one for the armed forces. Legal scholars and political parties continue to debate the question of whether Egypt’s Supreme Council of the Armed Forces retains the right to issue a constitutional addendum to the constituent assembly article.